Avery Johnson added new workouts designed to help him make big plays for K-State
Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson doesn’t have an official workout motto, but it might as well be “no pain, no gain.”
Earlier this spring, Johnson decided he wasn’t as agile as he needed to be on the football field. So he added unorthodox training exercises to his workout schedule in hopes of enhancing that part of his game.
He knew they were working when his body started to ache.
“Some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt,” Johnson said. “These workouts just hit different muscles in your feet. We work so hard that my feet start to cramp. Absolutely nothing is worse than when your feet start to cramp in the middle of a workout. But you just keep going.”
Anyone who follows Johnson on social media has seen a sample of his new, radical workouts. They involve extreme planks, one-leg hops up a hill, knee jumps, vertical leaps and all kinds of advanced footwork drills that make it look like he’s bouncing across a field on a Pogo Stick.
Add them on to his already grueling schedule in the K-State weight room and you can see the results.
K-State football coach Chris Klieman is proud to report that Johnson has gained valuable muscle and speed this offseason.
“The biggest thing is how he looks,” Klieman said. “He’s put on probably 17 pounds of lean muscle mass, and he’s filled out. He’s not a sophomore anymore. He’s an upperclassman and his body has matured.
“He’s taken everything very seriously in the weight room and in the nutrition and recovery aspect of things. His body is just a lot better. He’s carrying a lot more weight, and he’s faster. That’s something that we stress. You can get bigger, stronger and also be faster. He’s done that.”
Johnson is currently listed at 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds on the K-State football roster.
That extra size should help him absorb hits and make plays as a junior this season. But he is also aiming to become more of a playmaker. Yes, he threw for 2,712 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, in addition to 605 yards and 7 touchdowns as a runner. But he felt like he should have done more.
At times, it felt like something was missing from his game. He struggled to make defenders miss in open space and he didn’t create as many big plays as he wanted to when he was outside the pocket.
So he decided to create a new workout plan with Brian Butler, his longtime trainer in Wichita.
Johnson used to work out with Butler all the time when he was a high school quarterback at Maize, but he reluctantly focused solely on his K-State workout schedule once he arrived in Manhattan. He didn’t want to push his body too hard.
But then he took the field last season and was disappointed with his fast-twitch muscles.
“I worked out this way my whole life and then last summer stepped away from it so I wouldn’t put too much pressure on my body,” Johnson said. “I just felt like I wasn’t as twitchy and I didn’t feel as fast. I couldn’t change direction as well as I could years prior. So we’ve been hitting it pretty hard this offseason, and we’re going to continue to do that all the way up until the season starts so that I can be as effective as a runner as I’ve always been.”
In his most recent workout video, Johnson can be seen leaping into the air with resistance bands wrapped around his knees. Another exercise shows him jumping high and pumping his legs before his feet touch the ground. He can also be seen lying on the ground and working out his calves until his muscles are burning from fatigue.
Johnson often runs laps in between sets to boost his stamina even more.
None of it looks like fun. It looks painful. But that’s the point. Johnson is smiling at the end of most his new workouts. He is confident they will help him gain yards this fall.
“All this stuff has been really helpful,” Johnson said. “I can’t say one thing in particular makes me more twitchy or more explosive than anything else. I just think (Butler) has a really good program. I feel better and things are starting to happen naturally for me.
“The big thing we preach is explosiveness and being able to work while you’re tired. That way, when the game is on the line in the fourth quarter and we need to make a play, I can run and win the game. I’m working my hardest now so I can go out there and be that guy.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Avery Johnson added new workouts designed to help him make big plays for K-State."